Commercial and agricultural flat bed trucks are commonly known to be equipped with articulating arms which are hydraulically actuated for hay bale grasping, engaging, lifting, and truck load bed depositing. In a common configuration of such equipment, a left and right pair of such bale engaging, grasping, and lifting arms are pivotally mounted at the rearward end of the truck's bed, such arms being operatively adapted to function with respect to heavy hay bales in the manner of tongs or forceps. Typically, two way hydraulic ram linear motion actuators are operatively associated with the pivotally attached bale lift arms for impelling reciprocating lateral movements of the arms' distal ends, for hay bale engagement and for, upon bale engagement, pivotally moving between a rearward bale engaging or off-loading position and an upwardly and forwardly extending position at which a hay bale may be deposited upon and secured at the truck's bed.
While such commercial or agricultural trucks are used much of the time for loading, carriage, and off-loading of hay bales during hay harvest, and for carriage of bales during livestock wintering, such trucks are often used at other times in a versatile fashion for carriage for numerous other types of agriculture related equipment and materials. For example, such trucks and truck beds may be utilized for carriage for heavy feed sacks, livestock feeders, head gates, squeeze chutes, and heavy motorized equipment such as pumps, generators, and welding equipment.
Where such agricultural commercial flatbed trucks are utilized for carriage of such other agricultural items, the truck's attached pivot arm bale loading equipment is typically of little use in loading of such other equipment and articles.
The instant invention serves to better match the use and versatility of the above described pivot arm bale loading equipment to the general versatility and capacity for multiple use of agricultural trucks and truck beds by providing specialized removable and attachable structures and components which may adapt such common hay bale loading equipment for use in loading, carriage, and off-loading of numerous other types of commercial or agricultural equipment and articles.